Joe and Ann Pollack, St. Louis' most experienced food writers, lead a tour of restaurants, wines, shops and other interesting places. When we travel, you will travel with us. When we eat, drink, cook, entertain or read, we'll share our knowledge and opinions. Come along for the ride!!
Copyright 2013, Ann Lemons Pollack.

May 11, 2008

SqWires Brunch

This isn’t really a complete review of the brunch at SqWires, but we recently had a chance to try a few things at a breakfast meeting. Happily, we could order from the usual menu, which isn’t always the case at some restaurants which restrict the options for larger groups.

Frequent restaurant-goers know good coffee isn’t always a given, but SqWires is serving tasty stuff, showing evidence of good-quality material and a staff that’s willing to do the dogs-body work of cleaning out coffee pots the way they should be cleaned. It gives breakfasters a certain degree of optimism about what’s to come, too.

Instead of corned beef hash, the menu offers hash made with beef brisket. This could be tricky, given the ability of brisket, without the brine that turns it into corned beef, to be tough. But the diced, braised brisket was moist and tender, settling in nicely with the requisite potatoes and onions. We found it on the bland side, but a little salt and pepper solved that problem. The pair of fried eggs that rode atop the hash were perfectly cooked, the warm yolk moistening the hash even more. And, yes, it came with a biscuit, described as house-made, that was so light it barely touched the plate.

Bananas Foster French toast flaunts two pieces of first-rate toast, thick slices of bread properly soaked in batter and lightly grilled. French toast should be soft, not chewy, and this is a really proper example of the style. The syrup, which was brown-sugar-tasting, was warm and thickened as it cooled, but the bread was happily swimming in it. The dish was topped off with a freshly-sliced banana. Adequate enough for winter, but by next month, the delicacy of this rendition of French toast will demand fresh strawberries and powdered sugar or something equally light.

The service in the annex was remarkably good, with frequent coffee refills and lots of help delivering entrees.

And since SqWires closed its market, the bar area has been enlarged into a tidy, modern-looking area that’s very inviting.